The present invention relates to the field of dispensing multiple and variously shaped ingestible products such as food, food supplements, vitamins, or medication in the form of tablets, capsules, pills or the like (hereinafter referred to as capsules) and, more particularly to a method and apparatus for sequentially dispensing a plurality of said capsules.
The prior art has primarily focused upon the creation of devices to dispense single tablets of specific predetermined dimension to a single recipient in sequential order, as illustrated by Richardson et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,904,075, and numerous patents recited therein. Such devices have clearly been aimed at use in the field of oral contraceptives, as positively recited by Richardson et al., and by Finkel, U.S. Pat. No. 3,570,707 and are usually non-rechargable by the users, except that some permit recharge by replacement of a prepackaged blister pack having a frangible membrane, as also disclosed by Richardson et al. Clearly such devices do not allow the user to select the size, shape, number, or content of the capsules to be dispensed, and are limited to utilization by one user at a time. Some of the prior art, while limited as above, has been directed to particular means that prevent alteration or reversal of the order in which the capsules are dispensed and must be destroyed when the supply is exhausted, as illustrated by Thompson, U.S. Pat. No. 3,446,339.